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Mormons and Military Service

This is an updated copy from one of the most popular Straight and Narrow Blog posts written at my personal blog. It has more views and heated responses than any other. Considering topics here converge on its subject, I thought it would be good to reprint.

The news at one time brought up the idea that, despite the large number of Mormons that support the current war conflicts, the members and LDS Church itself are skipping out on serving in the military. The implication is that Mormon are cowards, or worse. With so many of the recent commentaries on war and the military, they often start with Vietnam and ignore all other wars. To be fair, like most subjects the history of Mormons and the military is a complicated subject that can’t be examined in a sound bite. There are religious and cultural reasons for the diverse approach to military involvement.

Much of the attention on Mormonism these days comes from the media, hyped by Mitt Romney’s entrance into the presidential race. The focus on military matters had short attention with Mitt Romney portrayed as a Vietnam draft dodger. This would be a simple political attack if it weren’t for the way Mormons were used to create this image. He, like so many Mormons before and after him, passed on the draft for religious reasons. A mission to France kept him out of the draft and later he drew a high number at his return. Others have picked up on this and pointed to the whole idea of missions replacing military services as a way to get out of harms way.

It didn’t end with him, but has continued unabashedly by attacking his mission serving sons who some believe at least one of them should have gone to Iraq. Despite the rather badly worded way he explained it by saying his children are supporting the war by participating in his presidential run, Romney has expanded military support to include serving in a non-combat capacity at home or abroad. Many, including some conservatives, have rejected this idea believing that if you support a war then you or your children should join the military. For Mormons, that kind of a call to duty has never been clear.

No study has been done, but it appears to a degree Mormons reject the idea that you have to serve in the military to support war efforts. As one person put it:

I would like to make a few observations about Mitt Romney’s sons: (1)- They are married and have kids of their own. Should they just leave their families and go join the military? Is taking care of their wives and kids an important obligation? I think most of them if not all were married before this big deal with Iraq ever started. (2)- Each of Romney’s sons have served a mission for their Church ( two years).

I’m sure that Mitt Romney and his sons support our troops 100%. Let’s not be too quick to judge.

In other words, to live a good life and serve in other less dangerous capacities is equal to serving in the military in times of war. Without going into philosophical discussions of how right or wrong this view might be, it is interesting to see where it might have come from. It isn’t a spur of the moment defense. There is precedence for such an attitude because of the ambiguous nature of Mormon beliefs about war.

The basic template is the Book of Mormon. It is an interesting exploration of both the necessity and the horrors of participating in war. The editor is said to be the military hero Mormon, where the book gets its name, who was trained as a young boy to battle the Lamanites out to destroy his people. It is natural that such a person would focus so much on the wars and contentions in history. However, there is an underlying message that can be missed without careful reading that states war is not a glorious heroic struggle. It can make heroes, but only at a high cost of human lives and even civilization. Usually the end result of war is destruction as contained in the major Book of Mormon theme.

The greatest military hero is Captain Moroni, who rent his coat and wrote on it, “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children.” He fought against both Lamanite and unrighteous Nephite in defense of freedoms. What made him famous according to a reading of the Book of Mormon was not any particular battles, but his belief in pacifism in the face of war. He continually sought to end the conflict by ending a battle early and asking his enemies to go home. They rejected the offer every time and he fought them until they gave up. At the end of his military career he went back to his land and retired in peace.

The idea that a Mission is equal to service in the military can also be found in the Book of Mormon when a small group decided peace was better achieved by missionary service than fighting:

1 Now it came to pass that after the sons of Mosiah had done all these things, they took a small number with them and returned to their father, the king, and desired of him that he would grant unto them that they might, with these whom they had selected, go up to the land of Nephi that they might preach the things which they had heard, and that they might impart the word of God to their brethren, the Lamanites.

2. That perhaps they might bring them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and convince them of the iniquity of their fathers; and that perhaps they might cure them of their hatred towards the Nephites, that they might also be brought to rejoice in the Lord their God, that they might become friendly to one another, and that there should be no more contentions in all the land which the Lord their God had given them.

It is this example more than any others that can explain Mormon attitudes equating a mission with military service in defending the country. To get to know others and preach the gospel is considered, regardless what those not of the faith believe, a better military strategy than the outright destruction of life and property.

The history of Mormon involvement in the military outside of Scripture is equally as varied in approach. Support since the founding of the LDS Church has been mixed. Joseph Smith created “The Nauvoo Legion,” a para-military organization similar to many of the time. It was perhaps larger than any the United States had during the 1840s primarily created to protect the Latter-day Saints, to the fear of outsiders, instead of any national interest. On the way to Utah after having been forced out of the United States, there was a futile show of patriotic support by answering the call of enlistment during the War with Mexico. The famous Mormon Battalion was formed to march to California. The group never saw actual combat, but was still praised:

The 339 survivors who at last struggled into San Diego that lovely midwinter day in January 1847 each bore a wild but strangely holy countenance. They had made it. They had come through for their country and for Zion. On the morning after their arrival, Colonel Cooke wrote: “The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding congratulates the Battalion on their safe arrival on the shore of the Pacific Ocean and the conclusion of their march of over two thousand miles. History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry.”

World War I and II were perhaps the Mormon highlight of traditional ideals for serving the country in times of war. Even during these conflicts there were some leaders of the LDS Church skeptical of getting involved. Many Mormons returned from missions and sent into combat. The most memorable stories of these conflicts are actually the complete opposite of the Son’s of Mosiah example. Those who were at first teaching people in the “enemy territory” were now fighting them. Highlights of these stories often included recogntion of an enemy face and a sorrowful expression of affection. In other words, yet another example of the Mormon ideal that participating in battle does not make for better war efforts.

It is during the Korean and Vietnam War era that missions and military service were most in open conflict. The LDS Church wanted to increase its missionary service in order to follow the religious mandate to preach the Gospel to all the world. The United States government had other plans and often interfered in the number of missionaries that could be sent. It was the Vietnam War that caused a compromise where a certain number of men had to go to Vietnam from each Ward (Congregation), leaving a select few to go on missions. In some ways, the compromise has its continued relevance to more recent conflicts. On the other hand, there has always been an uneasy alliance between Mormon attitudes about serving in the military and religious devotion. President Spencer W. Kimball famously taught:

We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel—ships, planes, missiles, fortifications—and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching:

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:44–45.)

Feelings about war can be highly patriotic and supportive, but at the same time it doesn’t always equate with serving in the military during conflicts. It is not something easy to explain, and can be seen by those not familiar with Mormon religion and history as hypocrisy. However, it is not a defensive attitude trying to stay safe at home. It is a worldview that others reject or don’t understand. Even Mormons probably are not aware of it because the ingrained cultural ideals go so far back. For many there is a person who kills for country or a traitorous coward. There are no positive terms for a non-combat hometown warrior, peace soldier, or citizen diplomat.

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35 thoughts on “Mormons and Military Service”

Jettboy, personally I think this issue is pretty straightforward morally. Defensive wars, where you are protecting your country and family from attack, are honorable and justifiable. People who partake in defensive wars are indeed hometown warriors and heroes. Non-defensive wars — like Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, just to name a few — become problematic because people turn against them over time.

Some would argue that American involvement in World War I was unnecessary because the United States wasn’t in danger. It could also be argued that half the World War II battlefield was not a defensive war because Germany (again) never threatened actual invasion. A defensive war isn’t always about who attacks first. My problem with Korea and Vietnam (a problem Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t start out with and WWI and WWII never had) was a lack of true ultimate objectives. If you are going to war, it better be because you want to pulverize the enemy into submission unless they cry uncle. Worries about “collateral damage” or crossing an imaginary line into enemy territory muffle the ability of soldiers to do their jobs.

That said, the point made above in the post is that not everyone who declines to join the military, who otherwise could, makes that decision out of some cowardly or anti-war reason. Perhaps they are ambivalent about the prospect of personally killing an individual, but see no fault in members of the collective community feeling obligated to fight. Maybe, like Romney alluded to, living life without fear of the enemy is itself a form of defending by not capitulating. This is especially the case with Mormon missions where the religion teaches there is more than one way to defend a nation than brute force.

Thanks for the posting Jettboy. God first, country second. For Mormons, preaching the gospel is far more important than going to war, no matter how just the cause. I also think we are Mormons first, Americans second. Our kingdom is not of this world. If we are called up to war, so be it. When a soldier calls you to go a mile, go with him twain. But the mission of Mormonism is not to defend the United States. Let the dead bury the dead, let the US take care of itself. The mission of Mormonism is to preach the gospel for the eternal salvation of the souls of men.

This election will mark the first time since 1944 (Franklin vs. Dewey) that both parties’ presidential candidates have no military service in their pasts, and it will be only the first of many. Bob Dole’s campaign amounted to “Hey folks, last chance to elect a World War II vet,” and McCain made a similar appeal. The massive induction of American men to fight World War II and the Cold War gave a sense that military service was a standard part of an American man’s life, but that was only one multi-decade part of our history, and we’ve moved on to another phase that is more like our pre-World War II past.

The Civil War was another American episode of massive military induction leaving a huge shadow behind it, and in contrast with the 20th Century, that was an episode that the Latter-day Saints sat out. When we think about Latter-day Saint strangeness to the rest of the nation in the late 19th Century, some portion must have been added to that by non-involvement in a seminal experience of the nation’s recent past.

The heavy irony in all of this: the Left must be feeling desperate to use draft dodging (!), of all things, as a campaign issue against Romney. Especially in light of the Democratic Party’s troubled history of nominating draft dodgers for President. But hey, the Left never met a hypocrisy they couldn’t embrace.

In mitigation, there is also the fact that many military units are moral sinkholes. I wouldn’t encourage any young man to join the military unless he had already gotten the spiritual maturity of serving a mission or unless he had a testimony like a rock.

Still, I encourage young Mormon men to consider Reserve or National Guard participation

It has been my experience that, in most cases, probably 95 percent of the time, military service spells the end of Church activity for Mormons who do serve. They usually acquire vices like alcoholism and sexual promiscuity that make them pretty much unfit for marriage and Church service, often for any kind of productive civilian life.

I think that was not so much the case in the old days of conscript armies, but the new professional soldiers are a different breed altogether. As the old saying goes, “Good iron doesn’t make nails, good men don’t make soldiers.”

It has been my experience that, in most cases, probably 95 percent of the time, military service spells the end of Church activity for Mormons who do serve.

Obviously an appeal to personal experience won’t settle the matter, but I grew up in the shadow of a large Navy installation and some of the most stalwart leaders of the ward and stake were long-serving officers and enlisted men. I suspect that spiritual maturity plays a key role as Adam suggested above.

George, unless you have a serious study to back that up, that sounds like a first rate slander. That goes double for the assertion that professional soldiers are worse in that regard than drafted ones.

I am generally anti-war and unlikely to suggest military service for my children, but that 95 percent figure seems a wild exaggeration. I have several friends in active duty, and they are all doing great in the military, and their church service is not suffering.

I think a better comparison might be that going into the military is just like leaving your home and Utah and/or Idaho and going to college far away. If you have a strong testimony, you’re probably OK. You may fall victim to “the world,” and a lot of people do. But you may even find a group of like-minded people and increase your testimony.

In addition, I think the professional military is much more likely to have a good environment than one created by the draft, especially our most recent experience with the draft in the 1960s and early 1970s.

You couldn’t be more wrong. There are a lot of active duty and active in the church Latter-day Saints. Some of the finest members of our society are in the U.S. military. In fact as I spent time with people my husband worked with, they often reminded me of members of the church. They were very loyal and had good moral values. I would trust them with my life.

Of course there are kids who upon high school graduation declare their independence from their family and the church and enlist in the military. There, they sow their wild oats. From what I understand though there are a significant number of people who get baptized after boot camp. This can be a very humbling experience for recruits. The church sends couple missionaries to minister to enlisted members of at basic training. Those who go inactive upon joining the military choose to do it and would likely do it anyway.

I think quite a few members of the church join the military at least partly to avoid the responsibility of a mission. At least in wards I’ve lived in, military service is unfortunately viewed as an acceptable substitute to a mission.

Personally, I don’t think anyone has a responsibility to serve in the military. I think doing so to serve one’s country–especially when one is leaving a wife and/or children behind, is highly commendable, but certainly not the right choice for everyone.

And a mission is not a substitute for military service; likewise, military service is not a substitute for a mission. You haven’t served your country if you’ve served a mission–you’ve served your God. And you haven’t served God if you serve in the military–you’ve served your country.

I have a couple of good friends who currently serve in the military. One was engaged when he joined, the other was married with a child. They both served missions prior to their military service, and they’ve both stayed active. One stays far away from combat, the other has done several stints in Afghanistan. I think the ones who tend to go inactive are generally the ones who opted for military instead of mission, and were probably on their way out of the church before they joined the military anyway.

I disagree with the long, drawn-out wars the U.S. has been involved with lately, but I respect those in the military who joined the military in order to serve their country.

As a former member of the Marine Corps and current temple recommend holder, I have to take issue with the description of the military in post 7. There were many instances were military service enhanced my faith, and I witnessed others comeback to church. I served my mission at Lackland Airforce base and baptized many people as a result of the faithful example of LDS service members. Even the use of the Confucist phrase is undermined by the many soldiers scholars that led armies and nations throughout Chinese history, such as Li Shimin. And my military experience has enhanced my civilian career as a historian a great deal.

Some peoples’ personal experience may be different but please don’t ruin Jettboy’s nuanced post and some very good followup posts by painting with such a wide broad brush that disparages my character.

Just a couple of observations, then I am bowing out of this discussion.

First, when aggressive military recruiters offer a bunch of wavering 17-year-olds an immediate and socially acceptable escape from the healthful and stabilizing influences of family, church, and community, the consequences cannot be good.

Second, I do not have a large statistical study to prove this, but I could go through our ward’s rather extensive list of prospective elders and tell you how many of them left home right after high school to join the military and severed all ties with the Church. I invite you to take a look at your own ward roster. It might surprise you.

I was drafted into the Army immediately when I reached 18 and served for two years in the Army Air Corps. I didn’t join the Church until I returned home and my life was transformed. Morality in the service as I knew it was not obvious among the troops and I found their general lack of any basic understanding of morality was minimal at best. It was a relief to be discharged. After a year in the Church, I went on a Mission and found it to be so refreshingly moral and uplifting, I was delighted. Years later, I had a phone call from one of my former Army buddies (I never knew how he found my number). He was from SLC and a former Church member, but had slipped away into gross immoral errors in the service and became a complete failure in his life, with two divorces, alcoholism and a part time job as a card dealer in a casino in Vegas. When I told him I had joined the Church, gone on a Mission, was happily married and retired from a great job, he began to cry. Sad case.

I skipped out on being a contract killer for the Mafia. Does that make me a coward?

I did take a job as a hired murderer for the US Army, but those years came and went without a shot fired at those I was taught to hate. Fortunately, the whole thing led me to a simplified perspective on killing and war.

Now, I can understand the patriotism and rah-rah Captain Moroni thing. And you can kill people you disagree with all you want (I personally don’t recommend it) using whatever justification makes sense to you at the time, and I won’t judge you negatively. Maybe they had it coming.

But for me, “Thou shalt not kill” means what it says. When the Brother of Jared said that such things are forbidden from the beginning (or maybe it was Mormon interjecting) he wasn’t saying it to add fluff. It’s not easy carving glyphs onto metal plates. The Jaredites had it right.

As a military officer, my disillusionment with the military is only second to my disillusionment with the church. While there are many good people in the military, billions are wasted on non-defensive wars, bureaucracy, ‘strategic’ boondoggles, and the self perpetuating military industrial complex. Outrageously stupid things are classified and compartmentalized; the waste, fraud, and abuse is staggering. But at least the military doesn’t claim to tell you the unadulterated truth.

Mission’s are no substitute to military service and vice versa. I’ve yet to understand the benefits of my teaching whitewashed church history to a Christian nation. I wish we weren’t so afraid of truth for truth’s sake. But I guess that’s why military and missionary service is made up of many naive nineteen-year-olds.

“I’ve yet to understand the benefits of my teaching whitewashed church history to a Christian nation.”

Missionaries are not supposed to teach history. They are supposed to teach the Gospel and help bring the Spirit into the lives of others. We are to do nothing more than teach repentance and the atonement, leaving all else alone. It is the Great Commission that Christ started in the Meridian of Time and that has been Re-instituted for the Modern days. It is a reason I really hate the answer to many questions, “talk to the missionaries,” because its not their job to educate, but to preach.

ANYTHING THAT COMPETES WITH ELDER JONES DONNING THE BLACK POLYESTER UNIFORM OF HIS CHURCH IS FROWNED UPON. The LDS church first and foremost looks after the interests of the LDS church. The church has been trying for decades to raise the number of missionaries. There was a time you had to be 21 to go but they were losing guys to the girl next door and college and other shenanigans. So then they knock it down to 19 and for a while only sent missionaries out for 18 months.

Me? I grew up in a nearly 100% Mormon county in almost the exact geographical center of Zion. The LDS seminary teacher prayed at pep rallies during school time. You get the picture. The picture you don’t get is what a hotbed of drunken fornication my bucolic little high school was. Booze, drugs, sex. And lets not forget the twin sins of masturbation and bestiality(ick!). My poor bishop, I felt so bad for him having to ask those questions, I thought he would have a stroke right there in his office.

I enlisted in the USMC at age 17 after getting ma and pa to sign for me. No, I didn’t enlist to escape the debauchery of my tight knit LDS community as you might suspect. I did it so I could shoot machine guns and earn a few bucks and wear a high and tight. When I got home and started school I had 14k in the bank and 8k in the gi bill (1986 dollars). Did I become corrupt? You bet I did! Every post I was assigned to getting a library card was priority! That is where the “corruption” comes in. T&A can be found at any high school dance in Utah but access to “non-approved” books of an intellectual nature would make any Stake President wring his hands with worry.

I’m just about all typed out. I do have to say one thing to Paul (if he really is Paul, he might be Bill): the story you typed sounds like it was copy and pasted from the ensign. You know, the story that runs at least once a year about the poor Utah Mormon kid getting drafted and suffering the teasing of the ruff tuff Philly boys but then Elder Jones wins them over and they all join the church and live happily ever after?

So, having learned that Heavenly Father does not want you hot bunking on a nuclear sub, what is a confused patriot to do? The National Guard and Reserve! They will allow you to serve your 2 years in God’s Army(oops, indirect reference to Richard Dutcher, sorry)!

“leaving a select few to go on missions” Are you serious? Do you have any idea how political it got back then as to who would get the missionary exemption? Do you think the spiritual kid got sent to Iowa and the businessman-Stake President’s kid got sent to Vietnam?

Looks like Brother George is beating a swift retreat from the field(pun intended). It might be interesting to point out that Utah ranks something like 47th as far as the number of veterans that live there. For many church members who use Uncle Sam as a ticket out, never to return, it serves that purpose. They arent going on a mission anyway, they arent getting married in the temple, it’s over. Fact is only about 50% of Mormons are even active. You’re going to have to do more than just blame the military for crappy numbers like that.

The LDS Church is virtually a wing of the American Republican Party. The Republican Party, at least at this point in history, is in favor of war and more war, unless the war in question is supported by Democrats (Afghanistan). Currently, the Mormon Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is apparently in favor of war against Iran. So if Mormons vociferously support the Republican Party and its objectives, then Mormons need to get behind pro-war rhetoric and also they need to contribute their sons and daughters to the war. There is an alternative: “convert” to the Democratic Party and seek peaceful solutions to world conflict. But where are the Democratic Mormons?

Good post Lemuel. Many Mormons are more than willing to vote for other people’s children to be put in harms way. It would be interesting to hear someone like George try to explain away that kind of hypocrisy. Here’s some interesting trivia by the way, Utah cast its electoral votes for Franklin D. Roosevelt all four times he stood for election. Perhaps George can explain that too. Did the Saints back then loose their faith in God and the Republican Party or were they “beguiled by the adversary” OR, did they realize that Hoover and his ilk sucked (I’m so punny)?

I am not arguing with you, Mike. Merely pointing out that Democrats and Republicans alike have started plenty of wars in the last 70 years. Appealing to your political party as a kind of purity test is beyond absurd.

Michael said that both parties have started wars in the last 70 years (make that 100 years). Facts: Wilson got us into WW I, FDR into WW II, Truman into Korea, Kennedy into Viet Nam, Bush into Iraq and Afganistan (only after the US itself was targeted by Muslim terrorists, attacks that claimed more than 3,000 US civilian lives), Clinton got us involved in the Balkans, and Obama has used the US military in Libya and Pakistan and where he claims to be personally selecting targets, using drones to bomb enemy targets and a Seal Team to kill Osama. All but one of these conflicts, in which the US has been involved, were begun by Democrats.

Also, MIchael, (if there is a Michael), there really is a Paul and I told the truth about my lapsed Mormon Army buddy. As for my post being “cut and pasted” from the Ensign as a conversion story, you didn’t read it right-it was the opposite of a conversion story.

First American KIA in Vietnam was in the 50’s Paul. And how about Reagan’s misadventures in Lebanon? Remember that? I suppose if all the guys in your barracks were so screwed up maybe yours wasn’t quite the greatest generation we were told you were. The guys in my barracks were no different than the pioneer stock mormon kids I went to high school with in their day to day lives. My extended family has worshipped Joe Smith since the 1830’s, I’m just glad I dumped Joe and accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. Yes, I’ve laid my cards on the table, I’ve become a Christian.

I have never heard of LDS members “worshipping” Joseph Smith – not even close!

As for Viet Nam, Kennedy had the most responsibility for sending special forces troops there after his election in 1960. LBJ was the main culprit, by generally micromanaging the war until it was lost. My Marine brother was there and despised LBJ.

As for Lebanon, Reagan apparently had no clue about the possibility of a terrorist attack on the Marine barracks and the Embassy and the fact that he didn’t retaliate against the terrorists only made them bolder. The loss of all those Marines was a tragedy that should not have happened. My brother was there at the time, but was not present in the building that was bombed. He blamed Reagan too.

As for being “the greatest generation” they were and proved it, especially the Marines. The guys in my barracks were mostly Protestants, two Catholics and no Mormons (except the one lapsed Mormon)l. All were immoral, smoked, drank and were like most others in our Squadron.

I later accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, as do all good LDS members. I consider myself a Christian too.

It’s funny how Mormons obsess over coffee as a horrible sin and Utah is first in the nation for “God fraud”. I had a Mormon banker swindle me out of $600.00 years ago. He had a picture of the temple behind his desk. That is a warning sign for sure. Because of my last name a lot of people make assumptions and start dropping the “Charch bomb”. Really embarrassing for them. I hope Thomas Monson doesn’t start slipping and declare green jello and caffeine free diet coke abominations. That could cause a crisis…

I lived among the Mormons for over 25 years.
I just about throw up when I see and hear Romney the warmonger talk tough about going to war with Iran. My question to him is “whose sons and daughters are you going to send to fight this war of yours”. It wil certainly not be any of his five sons and there will be few if any Mormons going to this war. I can understand people being against war but if you believe in going to war then you should be willing to send some of your own. We are just getting over two unnecessary and illegal wars started by our last Chickenhawk, president George W Bush who ran this country into bankruptcy. Do we really want to do this again?
The only ones who profited from the last two fiascos were the military-industrial complex companies and friends of the Chickenhawks like Haliburton.